It's only three days until Ubuntu 10.10 is released and Canonical has been rolling out details of the OS update. Much has already been made of the uTouch framework and the Unity desktop, which help make Ubuntu much more tablet-friendly and we know that Ubuntu 10.10 Server Edition gets a kernel update and the ability to run an Amazon Machine Image on a KVM-virtualized machine.

But another feature that makes 10.10 a useful enterprise tool is the inclusion of Likewise Open 6 . Likewise Open has been included in Ubuntu repositories since version six. It connects Linux, Unix, and Mac desktops and servers to an existing Microsoft Active Directory, giving IT gatekeepers the ability to control access, manage settings, and authenticate users across all platforms.

The open source company Likewise announces that Johns Hopkins University will use Likewise Enterprise for Education to integrate the university's Linux and Mac computers using Microsoft Active Directory.